Fire guts home but occupant escapes

Fire crews from multiple towns responded to a three-alarm blaze at a single-family home in Madbury on Sunday morning. The fire gutted the home but nobody was injured.

By Kendall Salterksalter@fosters.com

MADBURY — Fire crews from multiple towns responded to a three-alarm blaze at a single-family home in Madbury on Sunday morning.According to Madbury Assistant Fire Chief Jim Davis, crews responded to the scene at 65 Cherry Lane at approximately 9:07 a.m.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation at this time.

Davis said the occupant of the building was evacuated safely, and crews were working to gain control of the fire, which gutted much of the structure. Over an hour later, flames could still be seen coming from the roof of the building.

Smoke billowed from the windows of the Cape-style home as crews continued to work their way around the structure. Davis said at one point firefighters were forced to evacuate the structure for safety purposes, though they later went back inside.

Davis said the scene was under control just before 11 a.m., with crews working to put out hidden pockets of fire. Davis said he would go through the structure to see if anything was salvageable, and would be calling in an inspector from the State Fire Marshall's office to investigate the scene later on Sunday.

A portion of Cherry Lane was shut down to make way for emergency vehicle traffic.